Gospel: John 10:11-18
Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep.
I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father.”
Homily
As we continue to meditate on the Easter message of Resurrection and new life coming to us through suffering and death, the Gospel passage for this Sunday gives us an insight into one of the ways in which we are called to live new life.
The gospel passage we know very well. It is often called the Gospel of the Good shepherd. It gives us the criteria for leadership, whether this leadership is as head of the family, or in the office or in sports or in politics, criteria which every person called to leadership must exercise.
The first of these criteria is of course that the leader who lives the new life accepts leadership not for personal gain but for love of those to whom one has been sent as leader. This love impels the leader to accept hardship and even death for the good of those who are being led. The Gospel tells us that “A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Today as we witness styles of leadership which have far more to do with personal gain, or the desire for popularity or power, we thank God for leaders who have given their lives for their people. We thank God for persons like Oscar Romero, killed in El Salvador for his suffering people and now recognized as a martyr, and for many leaders whom we know not as power seekers but really as servants of the people.
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The well-being of the sheep consumes all their thoughts and their lives. Today we thank God for the example of the late Pope John Paul II who witnessed to the end for the good of the world. He laid down his life for humanity.
The third criterion is that true leaders are always concerned with unity. The Gospel tells us that the Good shepherd“has other sheep that do not belong to his fold. These also he must lead, and they will hear his voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.”
It is very normal that in any organization there will be groups of persons who have different ideas and different goals and will want to act in different ways. The true leader, different to those who seek to divide in order to rule, always tries to bring about understanding in the group so that there is unity of purpose among those whom he leads. True leaders have the ability to recognize what peoples and groups have in common and encourage others to focus on what unites rather than on what divides so that they work towards having one flock and one shepherd.
The Gospel passage ends by telling us that such leaders are loved by God. They are loved by God because they carry within themselves the image of the Good Shepherd, God’s son Jesus who laid down his life for his sheep, and who was raised on high so that he might gather all who were scattered.
This Sunday then as we thank God for those who exercise leadership as people who live the new life gained for us through Christ’s death and Resurrection and we ask for the Grace to incorporate the characteristics of the Good shepherd in our own lives so that those whom we lead may be brought to pastures which are truly nourishing.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God we thank you for the parable of the Good shepherd. It teaches us what true leadership means. As we thank you for the truly great leaders of our age, men like Msgr Oscar Romero, Nelson Mandela and Julius Nyrere, we recognize the thirst in our land for true leaders, be these in the family, in the workplace, in the political arena. Raise up true leaders we pray, leaders like the good shepherd, capable of uniting our people, leaders who will make the concerns of the people their own, leaders capable of laying down their lives for us. Give each one of us the grace, as we exercise leadership in our own spheres of activity, to imitate your son Jesus, the good shepherd who laid down his life for us. Help us to lead the persons, for whose good we have been placed as leaders, to pastures which are truly nourishing and life-giving. We ask this through Jesus your Son, the good Shepherd and Mary our shepherdess. Amen
